Monthly Archives: January 2005

NHK chairman Ebisawa Katsuji (70) has finally indicated that he may step down as early as March. The public broadcaster has been beset with scandals and poor ratings for the last year. Just two days ago, a producer was arrested for the second time for embezzling program funds. Ebisawa has recently even taken the unprecedented step of appearing on the channel to apologize. But the number of viewers who refuse to pay their subscription fees continues to grow, and most want to see Ebisawa go. He has been chairman since 1996 and is in his third term, a long time by recent standards.

• The upcoming 6th movie version of the popular “One Piece” anime series will feature a theme tune by “tsuppari” rock band Kishidan. With their outlandish hairdos and student uniforms, the band look like bosozoku bike punks, but have been becoming very popular over the last year or so. Band leader Ayanokoji “Thelonius” Sho will do the voice narration for the character of Kotetsu. The movie is set to open on March 5.

• Takarazuka star Dan Rei announced this week that she is to retire in August. She joined the troupe in 1992 and became female star of the Star Troupe in 2003 alongside “male” star Kozuki Wataru.

Nakashima Tadayuki (photo right, 33) of the up-and-coming manzai duo Cunning has been in hospital for the last few weeks. His comedy partner, Takeyama Takanori (33) gave a press conference yesterday and revealed that the cause was acute leukemia. He may require a bone marrow transplant and it’s likely to be 6 months to a year before he can return to show business. Takeyama will continue to work solo until his return. Nakashima has been in a Tokyo hospital since collapsing in mid-December. The duo appeared on many New Year TV specials, all pre-recorded. Nakashima is the sickly-looking “tsukomi” or straight guy to the always ranting Takeyama. 2004 was a breakthrough year for the duo, who made their debut back in 1993, and they are one of the most popular of the many comedy acts that have ridden the wave of the recent “o-warai boom”. Privately, Nakashima married in April and became a father in September.

• Actor Kashiwabara Takashi (27) faces arrest for assaulting a 40-year old man on December 30. The fight is said to have started as an argument over the man’s car blocking a narrow street.

Yoshimoto chairman Hayashi Hiroaki died of lung cancer on Monday night at an Osaka hospital. He was 62. One of the last people to visit him in hospital was comedian and emcee Shimada Shinsuke (48), who caused a furor when he assaulted a female fellow Yoshimoto employee in October. He was in tears again as he expressed having caused such trouble to the dying Hayashi. Other Yoshimoto veteran comedians, such as DownTown‘s Matsumoto Hitoshi and Hamada Masatoshi, Nishikawa Kiyoshi, and Kazama Kampei paid tribute to their late boss. Former vice-president Yoshino Isao (62) was appointed to take over the firm yesterday. Hayashi entered the firm established by his father-in-law, the late Hayashi Shonosuke, in 1971.

• “Howl’s Moving Castle” has been seen by over 10 million people in Japan in the month and a half since it opened. It was also the No.1 movie in Korea over the New Year, and it is expected to reach 5 million cinemagoers there. The latest animation from Studio Ghibli and director Miyazaki Hayao may yet surpass the box office records set by their previous hit, 2001’s “Spirited Away.”

Well, despite NHK chairman Ebisawa’s claims that it would be the best ever, Kohaku was a big flop. The second part of the New Year’s Eve song spectacle recorded a viewer rating of just 39% in the Tokyo area, the first ever below 40%. The opening half rated just over 30% and was the 2nd worst ever. Even the presence of several Korean stars such as BoA and Lee Byun Hung, who were last year’s hot item, couldn’t save the ratings. It did mean the show got a feature on Korean TV, though. Meanwhile, of the fighting sports shows that were on almost every other channel, TBS’s K-1 show became the first to record 20% on a private network.

• Yoshimoto comedian and emcee Shimada Shinsuke (photo, 48) made a brief appearance on January 2. Though highly apologetic after a 2-month layoff resulting from his assault of a female Yoshimoto employee in October, he signaled his intent to get back to work. He had 8 regular TV slots before the case that threatened to end his career. The woman has yet to fully accept his profusions of apology and took the case to court.